Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev II set for February 2nd

As expected, Sergey Kovalev will exercise his rematch clause for another crack at Eleider Alvarez in early 2019, specifically on February 2nd, the day before the Super Bowl. Top Rank and Main Events are looking to stage the fight at Frisco, Texas’ Ford Center, training facility of the Cowboys.

I had an idea for a joke about Kovalev using the proximity to the Cowboys to train for a later fight with Adonis Stevenson, gaining experience against domestic abusers, but as Calvin once put it, the idea didn’t so much get off the ground as explode in the hangar.

Despite the decisive ending to the first fight, this is a genuinely intriguing instant rematch. Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KO) had won at least four of the six rounds on all three scorecards and appeared well in control before Alvarez (24-0, 12 KO), not known as a puncher, flattened him with a murderous right hand. These are two extremely good light heavyweights, and the timing works well to potentially pit the winner of this against the winner of December’s fight between Stevenson and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.